


Easier in Bed

by newtypeshadow



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Literal Sleeping Together, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Sharing a Bed, Tony Stark Gets a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 05:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17892539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newtypeshadow/pseuds/newtypeshadow
Summary: Tony and Bucky have an uneasy relationship until they start sleeping together.





	Easier in Bed

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the February Ficlet Challenge 2019 Day 19 prompt, “[There’s only one bed.](https://februaryficletchallenge.tumblr.com/post/182907848010/ficlet-challenge-prompt-19)”
> 
> This fic could be read as pre-slash, but doesn’t have to be.
> 
> Title taken from the Emeli Sandé song of the same name.

Tony and Bucky have an uneasy relationship until they start sleeping together.

They’re cordial at the Compound, and fight well as a unit alongside the other Avengers, and their senses of humor align well enough to keep the others in stitches when they really go on a tear—but when it’s just the two of them things are stilted, both hyperaware of the minefield that sprung up between them long before the two ever crossed paths.

None of the others have noticed, and Tony and Bucky don’t bring it up. They play nice for the team, and wallow in guilt on their own, and everything’s fine.

Until they both draw the room with only one bed.

The team’s holed up in a safehouse while awaiting some intel, and night falls. There aren’t enough beds and couches to go around, so a handful of them are left to double up. Tony and Bucky end up sharing the attic. There’s a double bed, and not enough room or bedding or warmth to sleep on the floor.

If they try to trade rooms, the others will suspect something’s up, and Steve will ask questions—and then the whole team will meddle until Tony and Bucky are either best friends or kill each other. They don’t need to talk to agree that they’ll both keep quiet.

They’re adults. They can share a bed for one night.

Tony warns Bucky he’s a cuddler and an insomniac. Bucky warns Tony he’s a big spoon and doesn’t sleep more than a few hours at a stretch. Both agree it’s probably best they’re together, then, so they won’t fuck up anyone else’s sleep.

They go to bed.

Dream-soaked memories startle Tony awake while the sky is still dark. Bucky rouses at the movement, and grumbles sleep-slurred curses into the back of Tony’s neck as he pulls him in tighter. Tony falls asleep again counting along to the pulse in Bucky’s wrist.

Steve wakes them up when breakfast is ready.

Because for the first time in _ever_ , they’re the last ones up in the morning.

Moreover, both are well rested after an entire night of sleep—the first either has had in months without being first drugged or knocked unconscious. Restful sleep makes them both feel _amazing_.

They don’t talk about it.

The team does, though, when they have no complaints about their bed partner for the night; no one else likes bunking with Tony or Bucky. Thrashing, cuddling, waking their companions when they give up on falling asleep—everyone has complaints about them except, apparently, each other.

By team fiat, Tony and Bucky become semi-permanent bunkmates.

After a few more full nights of sleep achieved similarly, Tony and Bucky realize the first night wasn’t a fluke. They start to look forward to sleeping together and waking well rested the following morning. They still don’t talk about it, but they stop angling to sleep alone when people have to double up. And after they threaten to resume bunking with other teammates, the team very wisely stops giving them shit.

Waking up cocooned in Bucky’s arms makes Tony feel safe, like for the first time someone’s both willing and able to protect him. Bucky is proof Tony’s not alone, and subconsciously, he relaxes.

Waking up curled around Tony makes Bucky feel comforted, warm, reminds him his life now is better than the one that haunts him. The Winter Soldier always slept cold and alone; Tony is proof that Bucky’s not him, and so, subconsciously, he relaxes.

Need for hyper-vigilance assuaged, both men awaken far less in the night.

Waking up together isn’t awkward after the first few times. They don’t talk about it, or about how neither tries to get up until both of them are awake, or about how when they sleep together they both seem to turn in early and at the same time, and tuck against each other immediately despite being wide awake. Their relationship when alone is still a minefield. Things are easier in bed.

Then comes a long stretch of months where there are no missions that require spending the night in locations without enough beds. FRIDAY and Tony both note that Bucky is awake at the ungodly hours Tony, robbed by nightmares of any hope of sleep, stops for coffee or a snack on his way to or from insomnia-induced work binges. Bucky notes Tony’s eyes are shadowed by fatigue, and his mind a little more distractible than when he is well rested. They’re perfectly functional, but both notice they lack the sharpness they seem to have in battle following a full night’s sleep, which they only seem to get wrapped around each other.

It comes to a head when Dr. Strange alerts them to an interdimensional portal that will open up and spit monsters into New Jersey at a specific date and time. The Avengers have a frantic three days to prepare, and on the night before the battle, are told it’s imperative to get as much rest as they can before the following afternoon. Across the briefing table from one another, Tony’s tired eyes find Bucky’s.

Tony cants his head in question.

Bucky nods.

Less than an hour later, Bucky’s in pajamas at Tony’s door, and Tony ushers him in to sleep.

They curl around each other, turn the lights off, and sleep the whole night through.

The Avengers win the battle by the skin of their teeth. Tony doesn’t like to think about the what the .47 second increase in his reaction times when low on sleep would have meant for Rhodey and the citizens of New Jersey. Bucky doesn’t like to think about what his usual sleep deprived state would have meant for Steve and Sam and Nat when that fiery snake appeared.

But neither of them can _stop_ thinking about what would have happened had they not known ahead of time that the call to assemble was coming. Had they not ensured that full night of sleep.

Tony leaves his door cracked that night, and is relieved to find Bucky sitting on his bed when he steps out of the bathroom ready to sleep.

Thereafter, around the same time every night, Bucky gets ready for bed and knocks on Tony’s door. Every night that Tony is late Bucky goes and finds him and glowers obtrusively until Tony capitulates and closes up shop and finally comes to bed. Every night that Bucky is late Tony goes and finds him and complains pitifully until Bucky wraps up what he’s doing and comes to bed.

They don’t talk about their arrangement. Not because they can’t, or because they feel uneasy navigating the minefield of baggage strewn between them.

They’ve learned to walk comfortably in the minefield.

They simply don’t talk about sleeping together because they’re close now—close enough that they don’t have to.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed yourself, I'd love it if you left kudos, or even a comment, to let me know! ♥


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